Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands made the recession real for the quick-serve industry when it announced plans to cut several hundred jobs as it restructures its business by selling off company-owned KFC and Pizza Hut units to franchisees.

According to reports by the Associated Press on Wednesday, the company plans to cut its company-owned stores for both brands from 20 percent to 10 percent. As a result, white-collar employees at the Louisville headquarters will either be fired or moved to the headquarters of the other brands owned by the company.

“We are continuing our strategy of franchising our restaurants in the U.S. to reduce company ownership and create additional opportunities for growth,” company spokeswoman Virginia Ferguson says to QSR. “As we do, some positions have been eliminated or shifted from Yum to our brands.”

Most of the restructuring will be completed by 2009 and Ferguson says Yum will ensure that fired employees are treated “with respect and dignity.”

Yum is the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W Restaurants, and Long John Silver’s.